Edmund Purdom plays Prince Karl, but Mario Lanza sings the bold tunes coming out of Purdom's mouth, in this MGM remake of the 1927 Ernst Lubitsch silent picture based on the renowned 1924 operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly, which itself was based on the novel and play by Wilhelm Meyer-Foerster. Lanza was signed to play the German ...
Joseph Papp's notion of staging one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best-loved operettas with two pop singers (Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith) in the leads paid off as a surprise Broadway smash in the early 1980s, and this film faithfully reproduces Papp's production, featuring most of the original cast and the original director. Frederic (Smith) has been ...
The first of MGM's phenomenally profitable Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals, Naughty Marietta takes several beneficial liberties with the libretto of the original Victor Herbert operetta. MacDonald plays an 18th-century French princess who escapes an arranged marriage by posing as a "cake girl," a mail-order bride sent to the New World to ...
It was standard operating procedure at MGM to cast their favorite singing team of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in new versions of old operettas, then retain only the music, drastically altering the plotlines to conform to popular tastes. This was the treatment afforded the Rudolf Friml-Herbert Stothart-Oscar Hammerstein-Otto Harbach musical ...
The third of MGM's profitable Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy songfests, Maytime opens in the early 20th century, with a young girl arguing with her boyfriend over her wishes to become an opera singer. The girl's neighbor, a lonely old woman whom we gradually recognize as a convincingly "aged" Jeanette MacDonald, tells the girl of her own career in ...
Based on an operetta by Franz Lehar, this remake of the 1934 original finds a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) returning to her husband's native land to dedicate a memorial to him. The king (Thomas Gomez) of the country, deep in debt, tries to convince her to stay by offering a young count (Fernando Lamas) for her to marry. The film earned Oscar ...
Contrary to popular belief, the Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald Technicolor confection Sweethearts is not based on the 1913 Victor Herbert operetta of the same name (though most of Herbert's songs remain intact), but a Dorothy Parker-Alan Campbell brainstorm about a popular Broadway singing duo, starring in a long-running production of Sweethearts. ...
The Desert Song is the third film version of the famous Sigmund Romberg/Oscar Hammerstein Jr. stage operetta. Gordon MacRae plays the wimpish American tutor of lovely Kathryn Grayson, the daughter of a military officer stationed in Arabia. Under cover of night, MacRae assumes the identity of the Red Shadow, head of the Riffs, who fights against ...
Though it boasts an American director and star, this Technicolor cinemadaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta The Mikado is a faithful record of what it must have been like to attend a performance of Britain's D'Oyly Carte opera company. Less annoying than in his other film appearances, radio tenor Kenny Baker stars as Nanki-Poo, the ...
One of the most technically accomplished and sophisticated movie musicals of the 1930's, Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight (1932) had a profound effect on the shape of the musical genre (especially the films of Vincente Minnelli), and remains a candidate for best movie musical ever made, some seven decades after its release. And that distinction ...
This TV adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado was produced by British Home Entertainment in 1966 and released to American public television one year later. John Wood heads the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in a virtually uncut version of the venerable comic opera. The story, set in an old Japan that never existed outside the imaginations of ...
A jazz vocal trio appears to set the scene of a little white house in Suburbia, the occupants of which are Sam and Dinah, a couple married for 10 years who seem to have lost the ability to communicate effectively. Breakfast is a tense ritual, with Dinah accusing Sam of having an interest in her secretary, a charge he angrily denies. Matters worsen ...
The excellent box-office returns for the previous Laurel & Hardy comic operas The Devil's Brother and Babes in Toyland encouraged Hal Roach to cast the team in still another operatic adaptation, a self-styled "comedy version" of William Balfe's The Bohemian Girl. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play members of a gypsy tribe wandering through middle ...
The Opera Australia mounted this 2007 production of Gilbert and Sullivan's rollicking operetta The Pirates of Penzance, starring David Hobson, John Bolton Wood and Anthony Harlow. Stuart Maunder directs; Richard Roberts designed the inventive sets; and The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra provide added musical accompaniment. ~ Nathan Southern ...
Polish director Lech Majewski brings his self-described "autobiographical opera" to the screen. Involved in every aspect of the original stage version's genesis (including co-composing the music), Majewski's story unfolds in a single apartment over the course of four seasons -- beginning with Spring. As the film begins, a small family -- mother, ...
The first of two film versions of Noel Coward's operetta, 1933's Bitter Sweet stars British favorite Anna Neagle and continental star Fernand Graavey (who spelled his name "Gravet" in Hollywood). The wisp of a plot finds Victorian Neagle persuading Graavey to march her to the altar. A brilliant musician, Graavey is unfortunately also a chronic ...
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide or All Movie Guide. © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide and All Movie Guide are registered Trademarks of All Media Guide, LLC.